Feank jackson and edwabd e



(No Model.)

P. JACKSON &3. R. AUSTIN.

RAIL LIFTER.

No. 274,609. Patented Ma.1*.27,1883.-

N4 PETEns. Fhawmhn n har, Wfihinghn, u. c.

UNITED STATES.

FRANK JACKSON AND EDWARD R. AUSTIN, OF MANCHESTER, COUNTY OF PATENT FFICE.

LANCASTER, ASSIGNORS TO WILLIAM 'RIGHTER OOMINGS, OF LONDON,

ENGLAND.

. RAIL-LIFTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 274,609, dated March 27, 1883.

Application filed January 22, 1853. (No model.) Patented in England October 28, 1880, No. 4,399.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, FRANK JACKSON and EDWARD Bonner AUSTIN, subjects of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, both residing at Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bail-Lifters, of which the following is a specification.

Our improvements consist in combining the parts of our improved instrument so that the screw will pass through a nut arranged to swivel in or under the end of the lever as it lifts, and so that the end of the screw will fit and rotate in a foot=step in the base-plate or casting. By this mode of construction the screw is maintained in a nearly perpendicular position under the load, the work is done with less friction, and thus with less labor, and the screw is better able to sustain the weight that may come upon it while a train is passing over the rails.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the manner of carrying our said improvements into effect, which is as follows:

Figure 1 represents a side elevation, Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal section, and Fig. 3 represents a plan, of the improved apparatus.

In these figures, a is an iron bed-plate forming the lower member of the instrument. I) is the upper member or lever, made of wroughtiron, steel, or other suitable material, lying within the recessed or hollow form of the lower member and hinged to the same at the end marked 0. Ihe opposite end, c1,instead of being tapped with a screw-hole for receiving the lifting-screw e, as described, is formed with an oval or elongated eye, to allow of the free pas. sage of the lifting-screw e, and the liftingscrew :2 is provided with a cylindrically-sh aped nut, f, which has a tapped hole at aright angle to its axis to receive the lifting-screw c. The lower end of the lifting-screw e is provided with a hemispherical foot, 6, and works in a simi' larly-shaped foot-step formed in the bed-plate a at a, instead of the grooved seating shown.

The end d of the lever b is formed on the under side, at d, with a curved seat, so as tofit and rest upon the cylindrically-shaped nut f,

and the upper end of the liftiugscrew e is formed with a suitable head to receive an ordinary box key or spanner. A collar, 0 is provided to prevent the lifting-screw c from falling out of the elongated eye at the end at of the lever 11, when it is turned over. The memher a is cast with a raised lip or rim, a", which lip or rim serves not only as a protection from the ballast fallinginto the recess, but also as a guide for the lever b and the cylindrical nutf.

In using the instrument the operations to be performed consist in the arran gemeut of theliftin g-screw with a separate cylindrical nut,whereby theaxis of thelit'ting-screw is preserved more nearly in a vertical position throughout the whole range of the traverse of the nut upon it, instead of standing in the tangential position consequent upon its working in the tapped hole in the end of the lever; and our improvements further consist in the provision of a fixed-footstep bearing for the foot of the lifting screw, instead of the longitudinal groove heretofore employed, which was uecessaryin consequence of the varying position oi the foot of the lifting-screw in working the instrument.

The improvements may also be efi'ected by substituting a spherical or hemispherical or other form of swivel-nut instead of the cylin drically-shaped nut f, and forming a correspondingly-shaped seat at d of the lever 11; or the nut maybe formed into trunnion-bearings, and the end d of the lever 12 may be made to embrace them; but we prefer to use the cylindrical form, as shown, as the most practical and convenient that our present experience has furnished. For convenience of moving the instrument from place to place a roller, 02., whose face substantially corresponds to the top face of the rail, may be added, so that the iustrumentmaybe placed with said roller upon one of the rails, and then be rolled thereon to such other place as may be desired.

We have now particularly described the nature of our said invention and the mode of carrying the same into efiect, and claim as our invention 1. The combination of the bed-plate and the lever hinged therein with the lifting-screw a t ewheoe and the swiveling nut, substantially as detiallyas described, and for the purpose speciscribed, and for the purpose tspecified. fied. 1 r

2-. The combination of the ed-plate having 7 the concave foot-step, the lever hinged in said 5 bed-plate,thelifting-screw having the rounded f lower end, and the swiveling nut, substantially Witnesses: as described, and for the purpose specified. WM. OBFORD,

3. The herein-described rail-lifter, oonsist- S. W. Manchester, England. ing of the hinged lever, lifting-screw, and the J. H. ATKINSON, I0 bed-plate having the roller a, whose face is Manchester, England, Clerk to the said Wm.

adapted for use upon one of the rails, substan- Orford. 1 

